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Westone "The Rail"


Happy Jack
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One of the whackier ideas to emerge from the 1980's, this is a lot of fun and a real attention-grabber at gigs. That's not the original pickup (I have it, but it's dead) but it works fine.



More pics at [url="http://tinypic.com/a/2ji40/3"]http://tinypic.com/a/2ji40/3[/url]

The sliding pickup thingy really works astonishingly well, and is a real lesson in just how much difference pickup position makes to tone.

It's no Alleva Coppolo or Celinder, but compared to other Japanese basses of the period it's absolutely fine.

Currently strung with nearly-new Status Hotwire double ball-ended strings, which work really well on this bass, and still with its original silver gigbag. Everything works exactly as the maker intended, no issues whatsoever.

Weighs (with strap) just over 7 lbs.

[size=4][b]£300[/b][/size]

PLEASE READ THIS BIT!

I'm having my first serious GAS attack in ages, and I need to raise somewhere north of £2000 in the next week or two. The building site that is [i]Chez Happy[/i], and the project manager that is Mrs. Happy, both mean that the funding is only going to come from selling some basses.

But which ones?

The answer seems to be ... most of them. So I'm listing most of my basses for sale, and if/when I raise enough cash to satisfy my GAS then I'll withdraw what remains.

DESCRIPTIONS

I don't do the whole describe-the-neck thing, and tell you what it feels like or how "fast" it is (does that help when you play a song by J.J. Cale?).

I don't tell you how low my action is. I don't slap or tap, so there's no point asking me. All my basses are set up for reasonably robust finger-style playing. If you want to know the sort of music I choose to play, check out the Band link in my sig.

If my description didn't mention a problem, then there isn't one (IMHO).

All that said, obviously you should always try before you buy if at all possible. If you can't do that yourself, then I'm perfectly happy for you to ask a knowledgeable friend to come round and check a bass out on your behalf.

OFFERS

All the basses I'm listing are excellent in their own way, or I wouldn't own them. None are clunkers that I'm desperate to get rid of.

BUT there's not a lot of cash out there and (given that I am not looking for trades at all) I am prepared to entertain offers ... in fact some offers can be quite entertaining. :)

DELIVERY

Each bass will be supplied with a hard case or a gig bag, as appropriate. Each bass can be tested in and/or collected from London, either in Chiswick W4 or the West End WC1.

I can post if I really have to, but I greatly prefer to do business face to face. If I'm posting, then I use my firm's courier - they are very reliable but they are NOT cheap.

No, I will not queue up at the Post Office with a bass. No, I will not use DelBoy's ultra-cheap delivery service. No, I will not wait in at home all day in case your chosen courier decides to put in an appearance. Bin there, dun that. :)

Edited by Happy Jack
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Thats mental!! Great idea though! Especially for fingerstyle players :) . I'm intrigued to see what the source of the GAS is to make you sell all your toys!?? Do enjoy reading through your ads, particularly the bits about cheapskate offers lol, gumtrees most entertaining these days

"love your pricing but i'm not around to collect! could you please send it to my son at: Mr Prince of N*geria..."

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I have played this. Its a little bizarre for myy tastes but it was enormously instructive to see how the tone changed by sliding the pickup position - from Precision to Jazz and shades between and beyond. Proved to me that the tonal quality of fixed pickup instruments is massively determined by the pickup position and - I would hazard a guess - much more so by this than choice of tonewoods, rosewood or maple board etc etc

Edited by Clarky
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[quote name='alyctes' post='1181759' date='Mar 30 2011, 12:51 AM']I bought one of these recently and I like it a lot - the movable pickup is educational, for sure, and it gets attention. The red ones are rare, I gather.

Bump for exotic weirdness L)[/quote]


Yep, that one was mine. :)

Bump for a really unusual bit of kit - I still have one and moving the pick-up
makes a big difference to the tones you can get.

:)

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